Sound-muffler for automatic musical instruments.



v 'No. 727,904. PA'I'ENTED MAY 12, 1903.

' M. CLARK.

' SOUND MUFFLER FOR AUTOMATIC MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS. APPLICATION FILED Jmmlz, 1902. no MODEL.

jgi.

UNrrED STATES Patented May 1a, 1903.

TENT Erica.

MELVILLE CLARK, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 727,904, dated May 12, 1903. 7 Application filed June 12, 1902. Serial No. 111,238. (No model.)

T ttZZ whom, it may concern:

Beitknown that I, MELVILLE CLARK, aciti 1 Improvements in Sound-Mufflers for Auto- 'forated sheet.

matic Musical Instruments and Players, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part thereof.

The purpose of this invention is to provide an improved device for muffling the whistling or hissing sound which is produced at the tracker-range or duct-board of an automatic musical instrument, which is controlled by the perforated sheet traveling over the ductboard or tracker-range by the passage of air through the apertures of the perforated sheet as they pass over the ducts of the trackerrange, and it also has the incidental or secondary purpose of muffling the sound which the movement of the perforated sheet itself and the rollers or their operating mechanism may sometimes produce. '7

It consists in the features of construction specified in the claims.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a front elevation of a portion of a musical instrument or player comprising the tracker-range and perforated-sheet traveling over it having myinvention applied to it. Fig. 2 is a section at the line 2 2 under Fig. 1.

The tracker-range is shown at 1.

2 is a perforated sheet. 3

3 and 4c are respectively the feed-roller and the take-up or rewinding roller for the per- 5 represents the side cheeks, between which the rollers, perforated sheet, and trackerrange are located.

6 is a transposing or adjusting screw by which the tracker-range is moved endwise to transpose the music or 'correct inaccuracies in the registration of the ducts of the trackerrange with the apertures'of the perforated sheet. 7 and 8 are respectively the expression and tempo? stops performing the usual ofiice of these devices. These parts 6 7, and 8 are indicated and mentioned because they are desirably-outside the muffler, which is now to be described, consisting of a curtain 9, which is preferably made of transparent or translucent material, such as celluloid, of sufficient flexibility to be rolled, as hereinafter explained. This curtain is attached to a spring-roller lO-that is to say, a roller suitably journaled at its ends in the checks 5 5'and provided with a spring, (not shown,') but of familiar construction, tending to hold the curtain rolled up on the roller and to resist unwinding and hold the curtain with some tension when it is thus unwound. The lateral edges of the curtain as it is unwound lodge upon the upper edges of the ledges 13 on the cheeks 5 5, which thereby give the curtain a definite convexity when it is unwound. The end of the curtain has an eye 11 for engagement with a hook 12 to retain the curtain drawn over the cheeks, and thus inclosing the rollers and perforated sheet with the tracker-range behind the latter. When thus drawn, the curtain muffles all the sound which may be producedeither by the escape of air or by the friction of the paper upon the adjacent parts or the movement of the rollers in their bearings and prevents such sound from interfering with the music produced. At the same time all the operating parts, including the transposing and adjusting devices and the stops, are accessible. The entire portion of the perforated sheet, which is ordinarily exposed, isvisible to the operator, so that the registration can'be observed and corrections made as necessary from time to time, and the expression marks and tempo marks can be'noted and followed by the manipulation of the proper stops.

I claim- 1. In an automatic musical instrument or player amuffl'er for the perforated sheet and duct-board consisting of a flexible transparent curtain and a spring-roller upon which the same is mounted in position adapting the curtain to be drawn over the mouth of the duct-board, means for securing it, and cheeks at the ends of the tracker-range and sides of the perforated sheet, upon which the transparent'curtain is laterally lodged when thus drawn.

2. In an automatic musical instrument or player a mui'iier for the perforated sheet and duct-board consisting of a transparent flexible curtain, a spring-roller upon which it is wound, journaled above or behind the upper or rear perforated sheet-roller; cheeks at the In testinnony whereof I have hereunto set sides of the perforated sheet and its rollers, my hand, in the presence of two Witnesses, at :0 having their upper or forward edges convex i Chicago, Illinois, this 26th day of May, 1902. in position to afford lod ment for the lateral 5 edges of the transparedt curtain When it is YMELVILLE CLARK drawn over or in front of the perforated sheet, Witnesses: and means for securing said curtain when it CHAS. S. BURTON, is drawn. l J. ABBOTT. 

